L, The old cases Part One: The crimson pentacles
by The Spazawocky
Summary: This is a fanfic alluring to the previous cases that Ryuzaki took up, prior to his appearence on the anime/manga, death note. Show support for this fanfic, it will affect my decision to bother continuing with it, so Read & Review please!
1. Chapter 1

**L: The old cases.** **Chapter One**

L crouched on the armchair, looking up at the television. It was obvious. Amy fisher had the motive and the opportunity, and her alibi was backed up in exactly the same words by her doting millionaire husband, who was murdered a day later. Since the two hour detective program was only 10 minutes in, he meticulously lifted the controller, and switched the TV off. L lifted himself out of the seat, and, with a hunched back, walked towards the bathroom. He showered for 10 minutes exactly, and then made himself a cup of coffee.It was tested, and L decided to add another 6 sugar cubes. He sat himself back into the armchair, just as someone knocked at the door.  
"Room service!" A shrill voice called.  
"It's unlocked." He murmured, as he stirred the coffee carefully, with two clockwise turns, and then two counter-clockwise turns. At that moment, a plump lady entered pushing a trolley laden with different puddings. There was chocolate cake, trifle, yoghurt, and many different sweets and confectionary.  
"You must have a sweet tooth dear!" The lady trilled.  
"Indeed" He said, in his quiet monotone voice. "thank you Daisy."  
The woman was confused. She was not wearing a name tag, neither was the young man facing in her direction, and she was sure she had never served him before.  
" To answer your unspoken question." He began, "I last saw you three years ago, but at that time you were working in the Hilton in South London. I remember your voice." He took a sip of coffee.  
"Thank you for the food. I will leave you a tip. Good day."  
Daisy, still slightly confuse, left the room and went back to her duties.

After dinner, L watched television again.  
_Another murder_ he thought as he watched the 9 o'clock news. _ They will be on to me about this one soon._ No sooner than he had finished this thought, his phone sang softly from his pocket. He lifted it out with care, and held it delicately to his ear, one hand over the mic, and the other over the speaker.  
" yes Watari?" He said.  


He knew it was the old man, since he was the only one who had his phone number.  
"Where are you Ryuzaki?" The old man asked.  
" Just a hotel, East London." L replied. " The stag on Bark street."  
"Alright. I have been contacted by the..." Watari started  
"I'm on my way."  
"I'm at the current safehouse, all the equipment is here and there is a bed ready." Said Watari. "Have you read up much on the case?"  
"No. ..To be honest I hoped they wouldn't call me on this one. I was hoping for a small break. It isn't particularly interesting. 3 dead, no suspects, all completely unrelated. It would be challenging, it would take me two weeks at the most, but it wouldn't have a particular pull. There isn't anything interesting!" L explained.  
"Ahh..." He paused. "that's not completely true..."  
"What is it?" Asked L, excited.  
"Come to Scotland Yard." Watari said. "I think you are going to like this one!"

L walked silently down the hallway, wheeling his suitcase behind him. He walked straight past the lift, and took the stairs. His room was situated on the 2nd floor of the Hotel. It was perfect. He had studied this room, and it was perfectly placed. If he fell out of the window, the fall would be short, and he would land in a small, yet suprisingly deep minimising injuries. If he was pursued ther e were 4 stairways, on each corner of the building, he being in between two of them. There were 2 dumb waiters and 2 fire-exits close at hand to provide escape. It would not have mattered if he had not have remembered Daisy, since he read up on all staff members before checking in. She wasfourty-four years old, married with three children: John, Amelia, and David. It was part of his routine to research in such a manner. Yet he knew it was a buck-up. He kept his identity well hidden. His mobile could not be tapped, and even if it was, he had a perfect English accent, and perfect French, German, and Spanish accents, and many fake names assigned to each. For now though, he was Eraldo Coil. He handed his key back to the front desk on the ground floor, and left a tip for Daisy.  
He walked a little way down the pavement. He signaled for a taxi, and one pulled up

Derek had had a good day. He had taken several tourists round London, Charging extortionate fares, and he was happy. He was signaled, and He judged it was a boy, or a young man. He was hunched over, and he was holding onto a single suitcase. As he got closer, he was able to get a better view. He was a young man, twenty at the most, and he had messy black hair and pale skin. He looked...Dishevelled. His trainers had once been white, but now were a brown colour, and were worn, with the laces undone. He wore a plain baggy white tee shirt, and old whitewashed jeans, both riddled with stains. Derek clenched his teeth. The man looked _poor_. But, against his good judgement, he slowed down and allowed the man to climb into the back of the cab.  
"Scotland Yard please." Murmured the man.  
Derek was slightly unnerverd by the deepness of the man's voice, but he pulled onto the main road and set off.  
He had only been driving for a few minutes before he realised that everything about the guy annoyed him. The boy wasn't even sitting! He was crouching on the seat, Wiping his grubby Shoes all over it! He was looking in the mirror, his eyes drilling into him... And what eyes. They were as black as his hair. And he had a puzzled, dreamy expression on his face as he pinched his lip between two fingers. Derek took a deep breath and his hand tightened on the wheel.  
Finally the horror ended, and he pulled up to Scotland Yard.  
"that will be fifty pounds please." Derek said.  
" The meter calculates the fare base on the time of day, the distance travelled, and the speed at which the taxi travelled. We travelled four miles. Our average speed was 15 miles an hour, and we started the journey at 6:37 and finished it at two minutes to seven. The maximum taxi fair would be twenty seven pounds, although it would, in this case, be twenty-one pounds fifty. I am going to forget about the price you set and pay you twenty five."The man explained as he reached into his pocket and retrieved a rubber band rapped around many five pound notes. He unravelled it and handed derek four of them. He replaced them and tossed a pound coin to the perplexed driver. He climbed out the car and shut the door but leaned in through the window and said:  
"A tip".

Derek sighed. It was going to be a crap evening.  
The man flashed a smile and walked through the front foor of Scotland Yard.


	2. Chapter 2

L The old Cases:Chapter Two.

Watari handed L the files.

They were sat in a windowless room, with one dim light hanging from the centre of the celling. The room had an oppressive atmosphere. Many criminals had confessed to their misdeeds in this very room. Rampant murderers, lustful rapists, every sort of scum had been charged here.

L leafed through the files, removing a photo which he pored over with his shadowed, expressionless photo depicted what could only just be recognised as the body of a human DNA results showed that it was a 20 year old female. Her name was Gertrude Caine, a student from the Imperial college London.

The reason her identity was so hard to determine, was that the body had been mutilated beyond recognition. Her skin was tight to her bones, it was delicate and crumpled, like old parchment. The colour of the skin itself was black, like her body was charred, although forensics had said she had died of loss of blood, and that her body was not set on fire. They had determined that actually, her body had been shrivelled, they said in their report:

"like when you put salt on a slug"

L sneered. The people in forensics seriously needed to see the light of day, they take way to much pleasure in their the most interesting thing about the carcass was a single patch of unaffected skin, just above her abdomen, which was in the shape of a pentacle. This was totally alarming."but still," L asked, "why me? This case is interesting yes, but why did you summon me rather than Eraldo, or Deneuve?" He smiled at the use of his other identities.

Watari looked up from behind a newspaper, and carefully removed his cigarette from his mouth.

"Well, Ryuzaki." He started, folding the newspaper as he spoke. "The police informed me that the list of casualties they released to the press is slightly different to the actual one. I think you had better see this for yourself." He removed a slip of paper from his pocket, and handed it to him.

"Six? What relevance does that have?"

"The number is not the relevance. It's a code"

L looked down at the list of names. The cogs in his brain worked avidly, like a machine.

"Gertrude, Eva, Trisha, Mary, Emily, Louise." L smiled as he read.

"I can see this will be enjoyable." L found that by taking the first letter from each of their names, working in the order they were murdered, he exposed a code.

GET ME L

"I see now why Eraldo would have been a poor choice."

Watari chuckled lightly.

"who discovered the code Watari?" L enquired.

"It was no one, a temp working on the outgoing and incoming files."

"He will be working on the case. I know Scotland Yard won't like it, but that's what will happen."

"Understood, Ryuzaki."

"I would ask that the people working on this case assemble in this room immediately. I shall speak to them from behind the glass."

"Understood, Ryuzaki"

"Also, I will need complete files on all the victims. I want credit card receipts, next of kin, the works!"

"Understood Ryuzaki"

"Finally....I'd like some sorbet. Raspberry"

"I'll have it here momentarily Ryuzaki."

L pinched his thumb between his lips lightly. This might not be such a drag after all.

John was the last to arrive in room 4B. He had been summoned by Mr. Watari, which he couldn't quite understand. Yes he had deciphered the code, but anyone could have, and it might just be a coincidence anyway!He gingerly took a seat towards the back of the room, so he was enveloped in others were arguing towards the front of the were four of them conversing, one seemed to be up against the rest.

"This is ridiculous! Who is this fellow, that he seems to think he can boss the rest of us about? I have worked in this department for twenty years, And he comes waltzing in here, all dark and mysterious, who does he think he is?" Two of his colleagues agreed.

"I have heard whispers of him, they say he's the best detective in the world. It was him who solved the case of my mother's murderer in fact..." The voice cracked and slid off into silence.

This stilled the other's qualms, and they seemed to quieten down slightly.

"Thank you gentleman, for coming tonight. I understand that some of you may have had plans for the evening, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for sacrificing your time."

John shuddered. The voice belonged to a young man, but it was deep, and unfeeling. John didn't understand why, but this man, L, chilled him to the very bone.

"As you know, the circumstances of these killings are extremely unusual, I would go so far as to say unprecedented. The bodies have been drained completely of blood, the bodies themselves looking as though the person has been totally charred. However, none of the bodies were touched by fire at all. I personally have examined the bodies totally, and have come to the conclusion that none of the bodies had any cuts or lacerations at all, that meaning, that the blood was not drained through conventional means. Therefore we can assume, that the pentacles adorning the bodies over the stomach, since they are the only parts of the bodies untouched by the weird condition, are something to do with the draining of blood, that they acted as conduits for a certain ritual or spell."

The voice...L, waited for this to sink in for a moment. The people around John looked incredulous. He had heard mutterings of "supernatural, what nonsense!" and , "This fellow is a kook!"But no one had spoken up against the mysterious figure behind the glass.

"Are there any questions?" L asked. No one spoke up.

"Then I would like to start by introducing John, who has kindly agreed to help with the case."  
The men turned, their attentions momentarily diverted.

One scoffed. "He's a pencil pusher. How can he help at all?"

"I think it would be important to remember that he, despite working in downstairs with the "pencil pushers", he was the only person to notice the code, whilst you gentleman noticed nothing."

This forced their mouths closed.

The man on the end avidly rose his hand.

"Yes Mark?" L asked.

"I just want to thank you. You put my mother's murderer behind bars, in the Lake Ripper cases of 2000."

There was a sigh from the other side of the glass.

"That was more of a statement rather than a question, but thanks all the same."

L turned to Watari. After gulping down a mouthful of sorbet, he asked:

"And you are sure they are all clean?"  
"I interview them myself Ryuzaki." he answered.

"And I totally trust your Judgement Watari." He paused, "Al right, we are ready to begin."


End file.
